Guard-rails for roads



Sept. 16, 1969 s. MOSCHETTINI GUARD-RAILS ron ROADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 23, 1966 United States Patent 3,467,361 GUARD-RAILS FOR ROADS Gennaro Moschettini, Via Comerio 3, Milan, Italy Filed Mar. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 536,742 Claims priority, application Italy, Mar. 25, 1965, 2,757/65; Sept. 30, 1965, 9,613/65 Int. Cl. E01!) 15/00 US. Cl. 256-131 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A guard rail including a horizontal guard beam, vertical support posts, and a spacing member having two ends and a vertex, wherein the two ends of the spacing member are attached either to separate vertical support posts or to a horizontal support member on different sides of one of the vertical support posts, and the vertex is attached to the horizontal guard beam.

Background of the invention The present invention pertains to guard rails for use along the sides of roads for containing vehicles that leave the road.

Conventional guard rails for roads are usually constructed by attaching a horizontal guard beam directly to vertical support posts which are embedded in the ground along the side of the road. The vertical support posts must be firmly embedded in the ground and made of such material that they will rigidly support the horizontal guard beam. The rigidity of the vertical support posts causes the guard rail to vary in resilience along the length of the horizontal guard beam. The resilience at any point along the horizontal guard beam is dependent upon the proximity to a vertical support post, and there is practically no resilience at the points where the horizontal guard beam is attached to the vertical support posts. Consequently, if a vehicle should strike the guard rail close to a vertical support post, both the guard rail and the vehicle are liable to be seriously damaged. Since the vertical support posts have practically no resilience, they are frequently damaged to such an extent that replacement is necessary.

Summary of the invention The present invention pertains to a guard rail having uniform resilience along the length of its horizontal guard beam. This is accomplished by using spacing members to separate the vertical support posts from the horizontal guard beam. In one embodiment of the present invention, the spacing members are each attached to two vertical support posts and the horizontal guard beam is attached to the spacing members at their vertices. In another embodiment of the present invention, the spacing members are attached to a horizontal support member which is attached to the vertical support posts, and the horizontal guard beam is attached to the spacing members atv their vertices.

An object of the present invention is to construct a guard rail having a horizontal guard beam and vertical support posts wherein the horizontal guard beam is separated from the vertical support posts by spacing members, which extend horizontally along the length of the horizontal guard beam.

Another object of the present invention is to construct a guard rail having a horizontal guard beam, vertical support posts, and a spacing member attached to at least two vertical support posts and the horizontal guard beam.

A further object of the present invention is to construct a guard rail having a horizontal guard beam, vertical support posts, a spacing member and a horizontal support member wherein the horizontal support member is attached to the vertical support posts and the spacing member is attached to the horizontal support member and the horizontal guard beam.

Another object of the present invention is to construct a guard rail having a spacing member separating a horizontal guard beam from vertical support posts wherein the vertical support posts are connected together by a rod or chain.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments as shown in the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams of modifications of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams of modifications of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic diagrams of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 4.

Description of the preferred embodiments As is illustrated in FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a guard rail according to the present invention, includes a plurality of horizontal guard beams 10, 12 and 14, a plurality of spacing members 16 and 18, and a plurality of vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24. The vertical support posts are embedded in the ground at intervals along the side of a road. The spacing members 16 and 18 are identical and the description of spacing member 16 is meant to apply to spacing member 18 also. Spacing member 16 is curved and has a vertex 26 which is attached to the horizontal beams 10 and 12. At its end 28, spacing member 16 is attached to vertical support post 20 and at its other end 30, spacing member 16 is attached to vertical support post 22. Vertex 26 of spacing member 16 is located midway between vertical support posts 20 and 22.

It a vehicle, generally indicated at 32, leaves the road and strikes the guard rail it will experience the same shock upon impact no matter where it strikes the guard rail. The reason for the uniform resilience of the guard rail is that the rigidity of the vertical support posts is insulated from the horizontal guard rail by the spacing members. The guard rail, thus, will restrain the vehicle while limiting the damage to both the vehicle and the guard rail.

The embodiments of FIGS. 2 through 8 are similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and those elements which are identical are given identical reference numerals.

The embodiment of FIG. 2 includes a horizontal guard beam 11, a plurality of bilateral spacing members 34 and 36, and a plurality of vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24. The spacing members 34 and 36 are identical, and the description of spacing member 34 is meant to apply to spacing member 36 also. The spacing member 34 includes two straight arms 38 and 40 meeting at vertex 42. The arm 38 is attached to vertical support post 20 and the arm 40 is attached to the vertical support post 22. The vertex 42 is attached to horizontal guard beam 10. The guard rail of FIG. 2 acts in the same manner as the guard rail of FIG. 1 to insulate the rigidity of the vertical support posts from the horizontal guard beam.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 includes a horizontal guard beam 11, a plurality of vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24, and a plurality of multilateral spacing members 44 and 46. The spacing members 44 and 46 are identical, and the description of spacing member 44 is meant to apply to spacing member 46 also. Spacing member 44 includes a vertex portion 48 and tWo arms 50 and 52. The arm 50 is connected to the vertex portion 48 at one end and is attached to vertical support post 20 at its other end. The arm 52 is connected to vertex portion 48 at one end and attached to vertical support post 22 at its other end. The vertex portion 48 is parallel to horizontal guard beam 11 and attached thereto.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 is a variation of the embodiment of FIG. 1 in which additional members are interposed between the vertical support posts and the horizontal guard beam. The guard rail of FIG. 4 includes a horizontal guard beam 11, a plurality of vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24, a plurality of spacing members 54, 56 and 58, and a horizontal support member 60. The horizontal support member 60 is attached to the vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24. The spacing members 54, 56 and 58 are curved and have their ends attached to support member 60 at locations midway between the vertical support posts. The horizontal guard beam 11 is attached to the spacing members 54, 56 and 58 at their vertices.

The horizontal support member 60 will act to further insulate the rigidity of the vertical support posts from the horizontal guard beam and provide uniform resilience for the guard rail since any force must be transmitted from the vertical support posts through horizontal support member 60 and the spacing members '54, 56 and 58 to the horizontal guard beam 11.

The embodiment of FIG. is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 4 and includes a horizontal guard beam 11, bilateral spacing members 62, 64, and 66, a horizontal support member 60, and vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24. The spacing members 62, 64 and 66 are shaped like spacing members 34 and 36 in FIG. 2 and are attached at their vertices to horizontal guard beam 11 and at their ends to horizontal support member 60 which is attached to the vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24.

The embodiment of FIG. 6 is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 4 and includes a horizontal guard beam 11, vertical support posts 20, 22 and 24, multilateral spacing members 68, 70 and 72, and a horizontal support member 60. The spacing members 68, 70 and 72 are shaped like spacing members 44 and 46 in FIG. 3 and are attached to the horizontal support member 60 midway between the vertical support posts. The horizontal support member 60 is attached to the vertical support posts, and the horizontal guard beam 11 is attached to the spacing members 68, 70 and 72 at their vertex portions.

The embodiments of FIGS. 7 and 8 are modifications of the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, in which the same spacing members are used but each vertical support post has only one spacing member attached to it.

The embodiment of FIG] includes a horizontal guard beam 11, bilateral spacing members 74 and 76, and vertical support posts 78, 80, 82 and 84. The spacing members 74 and 76 are identical to each other and to the spacing members 34 and 36 described with respect to FIG. 2. The description of spacing member 74 applies to spacing member 76 also since they are identical. The vertex of spacing member 74 is attached to horizontal guard beam 11, and the ends of spacing member 74 are attached to vertical support posts 78 and 80, individually. Vertical support posts 78 and 80 are connected together by a chain or rod 86 which is held to the vertical support posts by screws 88.

The embodiment of FIG. 8 employs the same elements as FIG. 7; however, the multilateral spacing members 90 and 92 are identical to those described with respect to FIG. 3. The spacing member 90 has one end attached to vertical support post 80, a vertex portion attached to horizontal guard beam 11, and its other end connected to vertical support post 78. The vertical support posts 78 and 80 are connected by a rod or chain 86 in the same manner as described with respect to FIG. 7.

Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many other modifications, variations and changes in details, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown on the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a guard rail, the combination comprising a plurality of vertical support posts,

a horizontal beam,

horizontal support means attached to said vertical support posts,

spacing means having two diverging portions with opposite ends and a vertex,

means attaching one end of said spacing means to said horizontal support means on one side of one of said vertical support posts,

means attaching the other end of said spacing means to said horizontal support means on the other side of said one vertical support post, and

means attaching said horizontal beam to the vertex of said spacing means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 361,223 4/ 1887 Kelly. 1,640,336 8/ 1927 Tufe. 1,913,690 6/1933 Teetor 256-131 1,974,232 9/1934 Brown 256l3.l 2,005,418 6/ 1935 Gleason et al 25613.1 2,168,930 8/1939 Bradshaw 25613.1 2,172,919 9/1939 Wertman 256-13.1

DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner 

